random: class rings?

Just a passing thought from this morning’s metro and elevator ride: How old is too old to still be wearing a class ring? I’ve seen this mostly–and I say that, but it’s really like 100%–on men.

Obviously there are no rules to this, but is there a point at which you say, “Ok, time to put that away?” I’m all for jewelry as a form of self-expression or in some cases… bling. But when you shake hands with someone or are in a meeting with them and you look at their hand, I’m pretty sure the last thing they want you thinking is… “He went to Jostens!!”*

* Jostens** also makes championship sports rings and even Super Bowl rings, but for most of us they’re still that little fold out brochure you pored over during your senior [oops, junior] year.

** They also have one of the shortest wikipedia entries I’ve ever seen for a U.S. company.

I wore my high school ring for about 5 years total: 2 in high school – I pored over that brochure in my junior year, thankyouverymuch – and 3 afterward. The only reason I ever stopped wearing it in the first place was to let my ex wear it; he returned it to me after we split up a few years later and to be honest, I haven’t seen it since. I have mixed feelings about the ring now; it now represents two different periods in my life that were equally joyous and painful, so I haven’t really bothered to look for the ring.

Even if I wanted to, I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to wear it anymore anyway. My fingers have fattened since 1999 when I last remember wearing it.

I was one of those that never got my class ring, couldn’t afford it and wasn’t going to ask my parents for the money. There was a time I regretted that decision, but now I can’t see why I would want it.

I don’t see the point of continuing to wear one post high school or college, unless you went Ivy League and are showing that off, but that is a whole other discussion on personalities – 😕 .

To add to my earlier comment, I hopped over to Jostens’ web site just for shits and giggles to see if I could replicate my ring. I can’t – apparently my school’s logo changed and they no longer seem to have the theatre masks available for the design on the other side. What really surprised me was the cost, though. My ring cost ~$120 in 1995; the same(ish) ring today is about three times that. Did inflation really go up that much?

It was imperative that I have that high school ring. Once I got it, it was fabulous for about 3 months. Then, I realized how stupid it was. It’s in a drawer at home. I regret asking my parents to pay for it. And it’s not like they have any resale value. I’ve tried.

I still have my high school class ring, but it sits in a jewelry box, where it has sat for the last five years. I don’t necessarily know what possessed me to get it considering how much I want nothing to do with my HS.

I did consider getting one for my college, but I haven’t really followed through on it. I think if I did it would be something simple and not overly huge.

I wear my college ring daily. Of course, I only just earned it a couple years ago. It’s the only piece of jewelery I wear. It’s a reminder to me of why I decided to go back to school at such an absurd age and what I’ve been able to achieve. The one I have is solid gold though, none of those gawdy fake jewels so at first glance a lot of people don’t realize it’s a class ring. I guess they instead think it’s some gawdy gold pinky ring a mobster would wear. 😛

I did have a high school ring that was white gold with a mother of pearl inlay but that disappeared long ago. I think an ex may have absconded with it.

Edit: Just noticed that my ring is just like the one at the very top of the photo in the main post, if you were wondering.